Barely one year ago in the summer of 2018, entrepreneurial Fairfax mom,
Laura Arndt, launched her Matriarc app, designed specifically with a goal
of helping mothers and their bodies during and after pregnancy. This
helpful mom-centric tool was a logical expansion of Arndt's vast fitness
knowledge and experience that began when she earned her bachelor's degree
in exercise science in 2005 and started a career as an exercise instructor
in 2007.

Within the last 10 years, Arndt has worked steadily giving exercise
instruction and building up her fitness repertoire significantly through
certifications in various related specialties, including Pilates and
strength and conditioning. All her years of practicing her craft have now
prepared Arndt for the resounding success of the Matriarc app.

How It All Started

Before the Matriarc app came to be, the fires of intrigue were igniting
something in Arndt's brain. As she began offering group exercise classes
and personalized training to women, Arndt saw an increase in clients who
were either pregnant or had just had a baby and were in their early
postpartum stages. Clearly, these women had different physical needs that
needed to be met through specialized fitness training and education, but
how?

Arndt learned a great deal from working with expectant mothers and
formulated her own conclusions - a strong disconnect existed between
doctor's orders and the realities of life these women experienced. Arndt
could not fathom pregnant women receiving incomplete instructions on how to
care for their body after delivery. She felt it was her job to do something
to fix that. Inspired by this imbalance and working actively to effect
change, Arndt decided she wanted to create an educational tool to provide
fitness-based resources and support, specifically to women who were having
babies.

The Matriarc app was officially born in Arndt's mind in 2015, as she began
to collect information and work with doctors, therapists and specialists in
women's health to create specific exercises to strengthen the core and
pelvic floor after delivery. For two years, Arndt worked with professionals
in exercise and videography to design and professionally produce short,
medically-approved exercise videos for mothers.

Laura Arndt felt the Matriarc app was the perfect solution to help women
care for and rehabilitate their bodies after delivery, and she was proud to
offer this dedicated resource to help mothers with their bodies, minds and
relationships with others.

Her 10 years of experience in working with mothers during and after
pregnancy also proved valuable as Arndt prepared to give birth to her first
child, now 10 months old. Arndt experienced a lot of the same lack of
information and guidance as she saw with her clients years ago. She chose
to turn her own pregnancy into a positive outlet by sharing her struggles
and experiences as a contributing writer on motherhood topics at
PopSugar.com, Mother.ly and other websites.

As an experienced personal trainer, a strong connector within the birth
community and now a mom-to-be herself, Arndt was as determined as ever to
create a one-stop-shop for mothers. "All too often a woman's health is put
on the back burner during pregnancy and postpartum and 100 percent of the
focus is on the infant. The reality is, moms need guidance and support for
their own well-being," states Arndt.

Benefits

Today, the Matriarc app serves as "a tool for women to use during pregnancy
and post-delivery to improve their health and wellness … [with] over
100 professionally filmed exercises, audio meditations and an educational
newsfeed," describes Arndt.

The app has five main sections: the welcome guide - a news source for
relevant articles about motherhood; fitness and wellbeing; a practice
section that shows 5 to 7-minute videos that help rehabilitate the body;
meditations for the mind and a community section to help connect mothers
with nearby professional support.

After downloading the app and creating a free account, users will see a
static menu listing the five main sections of the app. Clicking out of that
takes users to the Matriarc feed which contains many useful and interesting
motherhood articles linked to outside sources including Parents.com,
ScaryMommy.com and BuzzFeed.com.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Matriarc is its dedication to pelvic
floor and core strengthening exercise sequences for beginners - in two
phases lasting for 20 days each. Daily lists detail steps for each
sequence, with accompanying videos every step of the way. On Day 1 of phase
1, for example, the postpartum mother will be offered an opportunity to do:

Supine deep breathing with Kegels

Supine knee to chest stretch

A pelvic tilt

Supine marching

Another pelvic tilt

Supine marching (redux)

Stomach quadriceps stretch

With soft music playing in the background and a strong narrator voicing the
exercise actions, each expertly produced video showcases a fitness model
against a plain white background, leaving mothers with exact, clean and
uncluttered visuals and information on how to perform each exercise.

What's Next?

After founding Matriarc parent company Kor, LLC in 2016, Laura Arndt seeks
to "support women during pregnancy and postpartum through the Matriarc
application and online community marketplace." Arndt also provides online
fitness consultations and offers events local to the D.C. metropolitan
area. Next on Arndt's list is the launch of the Matriarc premium app, as
well as an expansion of the community support section of the app, to give
pregnant and postpartum mothers ample opportunities to connect with birth
community professionals.

Visit the Matriarc website at matriarcapp.com. The Matriarc app is
available for Apple iPhone users only. Downloads are available through the
Apple store: apps.apple.com/us/app/matriarc.

Amanda M. Socci is a freelance writer who lives in Alexandria, Va. with
her husband and two daughters. Amanda is passionate about many things,
including school fundraising, Girl Scouts and recycling with art. Amanda can be reached at SocciWriter@gmail.com